Better Off Ted is an American single-camera situation comedy created by Victor Fresco which deals with the day-to-day absurdities at a heartless technology company, Veridian Dynamics, which experiments on its employees, twists the truth and will stop at nothing to achieve the goal reflected in the company motto: "Money before People."
The series aired in the USA on ABC from 18 March, 2009 to 26 January, 2010. There are 26 half-hour episodes in two seasons. It was not renewed for a third season.
Better Off Ted premiered in South Africa on DStv's Vuzu channel on Friday 2 April 2010, at 19h00. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 2 premiered on Vuzu on Friday 2 July 2010, at 19h00. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are 13 episodes in the second and final season.
Repeats
Sundays: 14h30
Mondays: 13h30
Synopsis
From turning co-workers into human popsicles to converting ordinary fruit into a military weapon, nothing is off limits at the company depicted in this satire.
Better Off Ted gives us a bird's-eye view into the clockworks of a soulless corporation, Veridian Dynamics. As the corporation makes technological advancements, morals and human rights are heavily neglected.
Don't drop your kids off at the Veridian daycare, unless you don't mind them doubling as janitors!
Every episode comes with a humorous-yet-bizarre advertisement from Veridian that is based around a given topic.
The show focuses on a successful good guy named Ted Crisp (Jay Harrington) who heads the research-and-development department. At the office, Ted struggles with his "one office affair" rule.
You see, Ted has an office crush on Linda Zwordling (Andrea Anders), a rebellious and energetic co-worker who loves to challenge management, but already had a onetime run-in with his automaton-like boss, Veronica Palmer (Portia de Rossi).
Veronica is friendless, heartless and lets nothing stand in her way of serving Veridian's unscrupulous needs. Veronica's idea of fun usually involves demeaning those around her, especially the two lab nerds Phil Mymen (Jonathan Slavin) and Lem Hewitt (Malcolm Barrett) — who are the mad scientists behind every new Veridian contraption.
These two geniuses have spent way too much time together and their relationship is closer to that of a married couple than co-workers.
You wouldn't believe the insanity and daily goofs that take place at this corporate conglomerate. Why would anyone want to work there? There's no consideration for the employees (all budget cuts are at their expense), upper management is run by tyrants and the cafeteria food stinks.
Hmmm, on second thought, maybe Veridian isn't that farfetched after all.
Seasons
Note: all seasons aired exclusively on Vuzu, on Fridays at 19h00. Each seasons consists of 13 episodes.
Season 1
Premiere: 2 April 2010 | Finale: 25 June 2010
Season 2
Premiere: 2 July 2010 | Finale: 24 September 2010